INDIA: Development and Participation (author: Amartya Sen)

Today I came across this book co-written by Amartya Sen. I haven't read it full but gone through few pages having comparison of India and China's development statistics.

I THINK THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR EVERY INDIAN.

When India became independent, it was around same level as China. However over the years China made some significant progress in areas like per capita income, literacy, reducing fertility rate, women education, infant mortality etc.
However we all know this. What I find more interesting is comparison of China with Kerala. Kerala beat China in almost all development measure except for per capita income. In 1998, Kerala's fertility rate was 1.8 below China's 1.9 and off course much below 3.5 of UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan etc.
Kerala's literacy rate is way above China's. Women enjoy very decent status in Kerala.

So the moral of the story is MEASURES LIKE POPULATION CONTROL, LITERACY, WOMEN EMPOWERMENT ARE POSSIBLE. IT IS ONLY MATTER OF AWARENESS, GOVT ENDORSEMENT AND PUBLIC WILLINGNESS.

Here is the book's link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=UpOl35r8UHQC&lpg=PA137&ots=-upGHZ2YaV&dq=india%20china%20fertility%20rate&pg=PP1